03rd Mar2013

최진기의 생존경제 Ep.15 – 정치와 경제 1 – ‘옥수수’ 경제의 비극

by Min

최진기의 생존경제 #15 – 옥수수 경제의 비극 Summary

KBS 생존경제 링크 : 여기

 어떻게 정치가 경제를 망치는가?

 

* Corn Belt : 미국 아이오와주 (Iowa State)

Bigger than the territory of Japan, 기업중심, 전세계 생산량 43%, 수출량 66%

생산량 > 사용량 → 공급과잉 → 옥수수 가격 폭락 가능성 ↑

(농작물의 특성 : 수요/공급 둘다 비탄력적)

옥수수 가격 폭락을 막기 위한 옥수수 수요증대 방안

 

* 옥수수 수요 증대 방안

1) 버번 위스키 탄생 (옥수수를 마셔버리자!) 스카치 위스키 → 보리로 만든 것

버번 위스키 → 옥수수로 만든 것, 연도 ×

2) 액상과당 (High Fructose Corn Syrup) – 옥수수를 마셔버리자.

탄산음료 설탕 대체, 원가 굉장히 쌈.

간에 매우 안 좋음. 간경화 or 지방간.

3) 소 사료 (소들에게도 먹이자! )

풀 대신 옥수수 사료, 소 1마리 하루 12kg 소비. 소는 풀을 먹고 자라야 하는데, 옥수수를 먹이기 됨으로서 소가 비만, 2배로 빨리 자라게 됨. 옥수수를 잘 소화시키지 못하기 때문에 소 위산과다, 위가 빵구남. 따라서 항생제 사용.

소 배변 – 폐수, 환경오염

4) 바이오에탄올 (태워서 없애자!)

 

* 바이오 에탄올, 무엇이 문제인가?

죠지부시 정권이 만들어 냄. 2017년까지 1320억 리터 생산 위해 → 옥수수 총 1.3억톤 필요

바이오 에탄올 1 리터 생산 위해 → 석유 1리터 필요

SUV 1번 주유 분량 = 1인 1년간 옥수수 소비량

환경오염 우려, 미국 화학비료 75%, 제초제 57% 사용

 

* 아이오와 주와 옥수수 정치

인구 290만, 미국 대선 후보의 경선 첫 관문이라 막강한 영향력의 근원

옥수수 에탄올에 대한 미 대선후보의 입장

힐러리: 에탄올은 석유의존도를 줄이는 유일한 선택

맥케인: 절대적으로 필요한 대체연료

오바마: 침묵

 

* 미국의 농업보조금

세계 최고의 농업 보조금 지급

연간 169억 달러, 전체 농가 10%, 상업 부농이 보조금의 50% 수령,

* 보조금은 미국 농업을 어떻게 변화시켰나?

미국 중소형 농가 붕괴

200만명의 농업 인구 대부분 농업기업의 operator. 대규모 농업 기업 중심의 산업재편

 

20th Jan2013

The Future of You – by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic – Harvard Business Review

by Min

 

HBR-Logo1

The Future of You

by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic  |   9:00 AM January 1, 2013

Click Here for Harvard Business Review Website

 

Economic and technological changes are reshaping the nature of work. Having a great job does not guarantee your career success; your competence no longer depends on what you know; and being an affluent consumer matters less than becoming a sought-after product. Welcome to a new era of work, where your future depends on being a signal in the noisy universe of human capital. In order to achieve this, you will need to master three things: self-branding, entrepreneurship, and hyperconnectivity. Self-branding is about being a signal in the noise of human capital. The stronger your brand, the stronger that signal. In today’s world, self-branding matters more than any other form of talent, not least because the mass market is unable (or unwilling) to distinguish between branding and talent.

We are all individuals, but unless we are also a brand, our individuality will be invisible. Being a brand means showcasing that which makes you special, in a way that is distinctive (recognizable), predictable (consistent), and meaningful (it allows others to understand what you do and why). This is why David Beckham and Lady Gaga are much more successful than their more talented competitors — they understood that being a marketing phenomenon is more important than displaying outstanding soccer skills or musical talent, and focused more on self-branding than their counterparts did.

Successful brands are polarizing (they generate strong reactions) and simple. Strong self-branding means removing all non-essentials from your public reputation or, as Antoine Saint-Exupery put it, “perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

Entrepreneurship is about adding value to society by disrupting it and improving the order of things: it is turning the present into the past by creating a better future.

We are all busy, but the only activity that really matters is enterprising activity or entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is the difference between being busy and being a business, and the reason why some are able to stay in business.

Everything that isn’t already optimized or automatized depends on people, and every transaction between people is a business transaction. The most important commodity in human capital today is people who can grow a business, that is, work on the business rather than in a business.

Today’s war for talent is the war for identifying, developing, and retaining true change-agents. Change-agents are hard to find, hard to manage, and hard to retain. Entrepreneurship is about being a change-agent; change-agents are signals, everyone else is noise. If you are not bringing growth, you are replaceable and recyclable.

Whether you are self-employed or employed by others, whether you work in a big business or own a small business, your career success depends on your ability to offer something new: new solutions for existing problems; new services and products; new ideas; etc. Everything that isn’t new is old, and if you are doing old you are stuck in the past. In the age entrepreneurship, the future of you is new, and your value depends on your ability to do things differently. As the great Alan Kay pointed out, “a change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points.”

Hyperconnectivity is about being a signal in the sea of data and making and shaping the waves of social knowledge.

We are all online, but what matters is being a relevant connector. Hyperconnectivity is not about being online 24/7; it’s about optimizing the online experience for others.

Unless you are a hyperconnector, only Netflix cares about what movies you watch, and only your friends care about where you went for brunch. But when you are a hyperconnector, thousands of people will watch the movies you like and your brunch recommendations will shape reviewers’ comments on TripAdvisor. In the era of information overload, being a trustworthy source of information is a rare commodity — it is the digital equivalent of being an intellectual and the latest state in the evolution of marketing.

The world’s knowledge is too large to be stored anywhere; Wikipedia and Google aren’t enough; the Library of Congress isn’t enough. Hyperconnectors point us in the right direction. Anybody can upload a video on YouTube or tweet, but only a few can direct us to the videos or tweets we want to see.

The most important form of knowledge today is knowing where to find stuff. In fact, the ability to find stuff is now almost as important as the ability to create stuff. Hyperconnectors are the creative of the digital era because in the age of information overload, where everybody creates online content, effectively curating content is what really matters.

In short, the future of you depends on your ability to be a brand, a change agent, and a link to useful information. Paying attention to your personality and managing your reputation (how others see you) will turn you into a successful brand; paying attention to your ideas and defying the status quo will help you become a change agent; and bridging the gap between social knowledge and collective interests will turn you into a hyperconnector.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is an international authority in personality profiling and psychometric testing. He is a Professor of Business Psychology at University College London (UCL), Visiting Professor at New York University, and has previously taught at the London School of Economics. He is co-founder of metaprofiling.com.

19th Oct2012

My Korean Wedding

by Min

My Korean Wedding

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a while to write a blog post here but I’ve been very busy and been under stress to prepare my 2 weddings. One in Bali and One in Korea.

My wedding in Korea will be in the first week of November, but I’d like to give you a sneak preview of what I will wear for the day.

 

It’s going to be a traditional Korean wedding in a nice hotel ballroom. (Quite interesting, isn’t it? My dad’s idea)

I’ll write more about it after my Korean Wedding.

 

 

 

19th Sep2012

통찰에 의한 꿈

by Min

김미경의 ‘언니의 독설’

 

30대 결혼 후, 자기계발이 인생을 결정한다.

 

Some of phrases from her book.

“욕망에 의한 꿈은 실현 가능성이 없어. 꿈은 구체적으로 통찰을 해가면서 꿔야 해. 통찰에 의한 꿈은 정확히 말하면 ‘데이터에 의한 꿈’이야.

지난 세월 내가 가지고 있는 데이터를 분석하고 그것을 통찰하다 보면

내가 어떤 꿈을 꿔야 할 지 알게 돼. 그 데이터가 말해줘서 말야. 그리고 그 데이터가 말해 준 꿈이 가장 나다운 꿈인거야.”

 

18th Jun2012

I’m Engaged!!!

by Min

I know I’ve been very lazy in postings in this blog. But there’s one thing that I want to share with people.

My boyfriend proposed me last month and now I’m engaged!  He gave me my dream engagement ring of my life!

 

We went to Joel Robuchon in Singapore Resort World Sentosa to celebrate our belated 1-year anniversary.

 

After our main course was served, my boyfriend surprised me with this…

 

Here is my dream diamond ring!

Now we’re engaged!!

 

 

16th Feb2012

Khan Academy – Great source for learning and the future of education

by Min

Khan Academy

I’m sure a lot of people already know about Khan Academy. Khan Academy is a great website that has collections of more than 2,800 tutorials in the area of Math, History, Economics, Finance, Physics, Biology, Healthcare, Chemistry, Computer science and many others. Salman Khan was a hedge-fund analyst, a Harvard Business school graduate with 3 degrees in MIT, started this by teaching his cousin remotely. He uploaded tutorials on YouTube for his cousin to watch, and it became this big now.

Click Here: Khan Academy

I found this website from Forbes magazine, featured with Bill Gates who has been donating this non-profit organization. Salman Khan’s story was very interesting and immediately I checked out Khan Academy.  I was so surprised at the vast numbers of videos and I thought I would be quite intimidated for fear of long and extensive information from each video, however, all the videos were short and simple and Khan explains everything in a very easy way.

Khan Academy was such a great help for me to understand the Sub-prime mortgage crisis. Although I read many newspaper articles or magazines about it in my attempt to understand how it started and what is happening now. His videos were easy to understand, just to the points, I just loved them!

Not only that, I learned all maths, sciences or other subjects that I learned in high school in Korean. Therefore, most of terms used in science, maths, medicine, or historic events, I need to relearn in English although I know what it is in Korean. These videos are so helpful to continue learning and to refresh what I learned. It’s a great source for me who seeks life-long learning!

Here is one of his many interview articles. Click Here.

Khan gave a TED talk about the future of education and it’s a good summary of how he started and where he’s heading to.

 

04th Feb2012

How to Become a Great Finisher – Heidi Grant Halvorson – Harvard Business Review

by Min

Harvard Business Review – Great Article!

How to become a Great Finisher

10:01 AM Wednesday June 22, 2011
by Heidi Grant Halvorson

Direct Link is here: How to Become a Great Finisher – Heidi Grant Halvorson – Harvard Business Review.

The road to hell may or may not be paved with good intentions, but the road to failure surely is. Take a good look at the people you work with, and you’ll find lots of Good Starters — individuals who want to succeed, and have promising ideas for how to make that happen. They begin each new pursuit with enthusiasm, or at the very least, a commitment to getting the job done.

And then something happens. Somewhere along the way, they lose steam. They get bogged down with other projects. They start procrastinating and miss deadlines. Their projects take forever to finish, if they get finished at all.

Does all this sound familiar? Maybe a little too familiar? If you are guilty of being a Good Starter, but a lousy finisher — at work or in your personal life — you have a very common problem. After all, David Allen’s Getting Things Done wouldn’t be a huge bestseller if people could easily figure out how to get things done on their own.

More than anything else, becoming a Great Finisher is about staying motivated from a project’s beginning to its end. Recent research has uncovered the reason why that can be so difficult, and a simple and effective strategy you can use to keep motivation high.

In their studies, University of Chicago psychologists Minjung Koo and Ayelet Fishbach examined how people pursuing goals were affected by focusing on either how far they had already come (to-date thinking) or what was left to be accomplished (to-go thinking). People routinely use both kinds of thinking to motivate themselves. A marathon runner may choose to think about the miles already traveled or the ones that lie ahead. A dieter who wants to lose 30 pounds may try to fight temptation by reminding themselves of the 20 pounds already lost, or the 10 left to go.

Intuitively, both approaches have their appeal. But too much to-date thinking, focusing on what you’ve accomplished so far, will actually undermine your motivation to finish rather than sustain it.

Koo and Fishbach’s studies consistently show that when we are pursuing a goal and consider how far we’ve already come, we feel a premature sense of accomplishment and begin to slack off. For instance, in one study, college students studying for an exam in an important course were significantly more motivated to study after being told that they had 52% of the material left to cover, compared to being told that they had already completed 48%.

When we focus on progress made, we’re also more likely to try to achieve a sense of “balance” by making progress on other important goals. This is classic Good Starter behavior — lots of pots on the stove, but nothing is ever ready to eat.

If, instead, we focus on how far we have left to go (to-go thinking), motivation is not only sustained, it’s heightened. Fundamentally, this has to do with the way our brains are wired. To-go thinking helps us tune in to the presence of a discrepancy between where we are now and where we want to be. When the human brain detects a discrepancy, it reacts by throwing resources at it: attention, effort, deeper processing of information, and willpower.

In fact, it’s the discrepancy that signals that an action is needed — to-date thinking masks that signal. You might feel good about the ground you’ve covered, but you probably won’t cover much more.

Great Finishers force themselves to stay focused on the goal, and never congratulate themselves on a job half-done. Great managers create Great Finishers by reminding their employees to keep their eyes on the prize, and are careful to avoid giving effusive praise or rewards for hitting milestones “along the way.” Encouragement is important, but to keep your team motivated, save the accolades for a job well — and completely — done.

 

 

28th Jan2012

Are You Learning as Fast as the World Is Changing? – Bill Taylor – Harvard Business Review

by Min

Harvard Business Review – Great article!

Are You Learning as Fast as the World Is Changing?

by Bill Talyor 12:00 PM Thursday January 26, 2012

Direct Link is here:

Are You Learning as Fast as the World Is Changing? – Bill Taylor – Harvard Business Review.

Tom Kelly, general manager of IDEO, the world-renowned design firm, likes to quote French novelist Marcel Proust, who famously said, “The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes.” What goes for novelists goes for leaders searching to craft a novel strategy for their company, a new product for their customers, or a better way to organize their employees. In a world that never stops changing, great leaders never stop learning.

Today, the challenge for leaders at every level is no longer just to out-hustle, out-muscle, and out-maneuver the competition. It is to out-think the competition in ways big and small, to develop a unique point of view about the future and help your organization get there before anyone else does. Which is why a defining challenge of leadership is whether you can answer a question that is as simple as it is powerful: Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?

Of course, learning new things is all about exposing yourself to new ideas. So if you want to learn faster, you’ve got to think differently about where new ideas come from. Here are a few ideas I’ve developed over the years about what turns leaders into learners — three “habits of mind” that will help you keep learning as fast as the world is changing.

First, the best leaders (and learners) have the widest field of vision.
After Steve Jobs died, I, like everyone else, read and watched as much as I could about his life and work. One of my favorite sources of insights was an old PBS documentary called “Triumph of the Nerds,” in which luminaries of Silicon Valley talked about what inspired their innovations. As Jobs talked about the original Macintosh computer, he talked less about semiconductors and software than he did about painting, music, and art.

“Ultimately it [creativity] comes down to taste,” he explained. “It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done and then trying to bring those things in to what you’re doing…I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians and poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.”

Translation: You’re not going to learn faster (or deeper) than everyone else if you seek inspiration from the same sources as everyone else. Educators know that we learn the most when we encounter people, experiences, and ideas that are the least like us. And yet, we spend most of our time with people and in places that are the most like us — our old colleagues, our familiar offices, our reassuring neighborhoods. If you want to learn faster, look and live more broadly.

Second, and more tactically, the best source of new ideas in your field can be old ideas from unrelated fields. A few months ago, after I gave a talk about innovation to a gathering of executives from the world of food retailing, one frustrated member of the audience asked for some advice about dealing with her boss. “My boss likes to say, ‘I want a totally new idea — and three examples of where that idea has worked before.’” The audience roared in recognition of the oxymoronic absurdity of the boss’s sentiment, as did I.

But then I got to thinking…Often, it turns out, a powerful source of “totally new” ideas in one industry can be standard operating procedures from another industry — well-established practices that look downright revolutionary when you simply move them from one place to another.

For example, leaders at Lexus identified all sorts of new ideas to reshape the customer experience for luxury cars by searching for clues at brands such as Four Seasons and Apple — companies that were great at what they did, even though what they did had nothing to do with automobiles. Physicians and administrators from London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children redesigned many of their surgical procedures by studying how Ferrari’s Formula One racing team handled pit stops.

Sure, there’s always a place for R&D as research & development. But there’s also a place for R&D as rip-off and duplicate. Ideas that are routine in one industry can be revolutionary when they migrate to another industry, especially when they challenge the prevailing assumptions and conventional wisdom that have come to define so many industries.

Finally, and most personally, successful learners work hard not to be loners.
These days, the most powerful insights often come from the most unexpected places — the hidden genius locked inside your company, the collective genius of customers, suppliers, and other smart people who would be eager to teach you what they know if you simply asked for their insights. But tapping this learning resource requires a new leadership mindset — enough ambition to address tough problems, enough humility to be willing to learn from everyone you encounter. Nobody alone learns as quickly as everybody together.

We all want to be better leaders. And the best leaders, it turns out, are the most insatiable learners. How are you learning as fast as the world is changing?

15th Nov2011

Finding Myself- 3 Books that helped me… (Part 2)

by Min

George Bernard Shaw said “Life isn’t about finding yourself but Life is about Creating yourself…”

To read, Part 1, Click Here!

2. What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig

Yes, the title of this book is quite cliche…I thought so,too.

The translated version of this book was a best-seller in Korea. This book was everywhere in major bookstores and I thought I would just give it a try. It was early January this year when I read this book and at that time, I was all about “starting my own business”. I had a business idea, pretty much a conventional one with high fixed cost. This book made me realize what I needed in business and also in life in general. I always thought I lacked creativity while I was working in Microsoft Operations and I regarded innovation is something that only Steve Jobs can achieve.

But, with a refreshing perspective and realistic tips in this book, I learned that those are not far from me. The author, Tina Seelig, is the executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, guides people to challenge the assumptions, to defy the expectations. And she provides many interesting examples and inspiring advice.

After reading this book, I was excited about my possibilities as an entrepreneur.

And…I was very glad that I read this book when I was still 29. :)

Get this Book:

Amazon: What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World

BookDepository.com (Free Shipping to Worldwide) : Click Here!

Her book starts with an interesting assignment that she gave out to her students in Stanford University and please check it out!

15th Nov2011

Finding Myself – 3 Books that helped me… (Part 1)

by Min

George Bernard Shaw said “Life isn’t about finding yourself but Life is about Creating yourself…”

I found this quote totally randomly the other day, how I wish I knew this quote earlier. Truly, I spent so much time in an attempt to find myself or discover my talent so that I can find my ‘perfect’ job. But not until recently, I realized that life is not about finding what I’m born with, but about making things happen that I want and creating myself that I want to be.

People who have known me would affirm this that I’ve read a fair number of books in personal development or Self-help whether in Korean or in English. Among all those books that I’ve read so far, here is 3 books that I found helpful in the journey of finding myself.

1. The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others In Your Life

I’ve got to know about Enneagram from my Korean ex-boss who was visiting Singapore. We were catching up over dinner and he told me about Enneagram and now he’s become a certified Enneagram trainer. Enneagram is somewhat like personality test, categorizing people in 9 different types. (Type 1: The Perfectionist; Type 2: The Giver; Type 3: The Performer; Type 4 : The Tragic Romantic; Type 5: The Observer; Type 6:  The Loyal Skeptic; Type 7: The Epicure; Type 8: The Protector, Type 9: The Mediator), but it gave me a profound impact on how to understand other people, and further more, how to interact and communicate with them.

What I liked about…

It’s a great introductory book to Enneagram. First, I thought Enneagram is just about personality categorizing, but…unlike other personality test, Enneagram approach is more dynamic. One person shows different sides when he/she is at peace or stressed, or other situations. This approach does not fix someone’s personality in one category but explains how it moves to different categories depends on certain situation. I liked the way Enneagram explains ‘what motivates people’ and ‘what are core fears” for each type. After I read this book, I tend to guess which type the person would be whenever I meet new people.

I’m typical Type 3: The Performer…

I’m Type 3 : The Performer and my boyfriend is Type 5: The Observer. Finding about myself through Enneagram gave me some kind of peace in my mind. Type 3 is motivated by vanity or image (e.g. the image that people have about you) and Type 3s are very goal/task-oriented and recognition-seeking people. Deep down, I’ve felt guilty about myself, being image-conscious, recognition-seeking, but now I’ve accepted who I am and stopped feeling guilty about it. I’m Type 3 and all other Type 3s out there are like me, too.  Not only that, knowing each type, I’ve had a better understanding of why people say certain things and act certain ways. Of course, it helped my relationship and communication with my boyfriend as well. (I believe Type 3 and Type 5 cannot easily get along well.)

Buy the book:

Amazon: The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others In Your Life

Take the online Free Sample Test and find out what type you are!

Online Free Sample Test (You need to scroll down to see the test.)

The author’s website has a great deal of information. Please check out: http://www.enneagram.com.
Maybe you can watch this video for an overview of Enneargram.

It would be fun to get to know other people’s type. Let me know by leaving a comment! :)

21st Oct2011

Rainy Morning in Singapore

by Min

It’s a Rainy Morning in Singapore today

Good morning!!

Many of you are already at work, started your work day. I hated a rainy morning when I had to go to office, but these days, I really like a rainy morning. I can just sit down, listening to music with a cup of coffee and enjoy watching the rain.

Still, after living in Singapore for 4 years, I cannot get used to the lightening and thunder, except that, I really enjoy a rainy day. It’s quite different rain from Korea. In Korea, if it rains, it usually is not so heavy as Singapore and it rains for several hours.

This is a Korean song that I’m listening to now. ‘The Sound of the Rain’ by Younha. It’s not a well-known song but it’s a great song to listen to while driving in a rainy day.

- Korean Lyrics -

비오는 거릴걷다 수줍은 웃음이 나
비좁은 우산 속에 너와 내 모습
참 이상하지 비 오는 날이 좋아졌어
지금 내 옆에 널 만나

창문을 두드리는 수 많은 빗방울이
날 대신 사랑한다 네게 노래해
참 신기하지 비 내린 거릴 걷고싶어
좀 더 날 가까이 네게 둘래

입술에 키스해 기대봐 어깨에
내게 말해 이 빗소리가
숨을 꾹 참고서 용기내 말해보래
Love you Love you

발그레 물드는 내 맘은 너에게
어느새 나 라라랄라라
내리는 이 비에 어깨가 다 젖어도
Love you Love you 라라랄라라

입술에 키스해 기대봐 어깨에
내게 말해 이 빗소리가
숨을 꾹 참고서 용기내 말해보래
Love you Love you

비 오는 거릴 걷다 수줍은 웃음이 나
내 볼에 너의 입술 사랑은 빗소릴타고

03rd Sep2011

Hello world!

by Min

Hello World!!!

I’m Min, 29-year old, Korean girl living in Singapore for 4 years now. Worked in Microsoft for 3 years and quit my good-paying job last year, after realizing IT Operation is not my thing. Now I’m searching for where my passion is and where my passion will lead my life to. Hopefully it will be an exciting journey. So far, I’ve found my passion in Fashion, Flowers, and Fighters (yes! F-35, F-22, and bombers! I know it’s so absurd ;) ). And Just like any other single gal, I was searching for my True LOVE, it feels like I have just found one and I can’t wait to see how this feeling progresses.

From this blog, I want to share what I like, say Korean lesson, flowers, Korean stuff, dresses, relationship etc. with people out there and hopefully people find this blog helpful and fun!  Enjoy!

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